


Captive

by lacemaze



Series: Bon Appétit [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Betrayal, Emotional Hurt, FBI Agent Chase, Hannibal (TV) AU Inspired, Hints at cannibalism, M/M, Manipulation, Mentions of Violence/Murder/Death, Obsession, Psychiatrist Henrik, Serial Killer Henrik, Slow Burn-esque, Tagging the Gruesome Just in Case But Nothing Overtly Described, schneeplebro - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 13:22:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18811750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacemaze/pseuds/lacemaze
Summary: “You can't keep me here!”Schneep took his hands away from his throat, gripping firmly. Before he released his hold, he felt the doc brush his thumbs against the inside of his wrists. Chase shivered at the pressure. Schneep lead his hands to grab onto a bar to steady himself. He made sure to catch his eye this time, his voice laced with a seductive promise.“Watch me.”Falsely imprisoned for a series of murders he didn't commit, Chase comes face to face with the man-no, the monster that put him there. But this is no typical deranged killer, he's known this beast by another name: friend.





	Captive

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! What's this, another au you say? Yep! I recently watched and fell in love with Hannibal the tv show. Of course, I couldn't help imagine Chase and Henrik in Will's and Hanni's rolls respectively. I've gotten to talk to the lovely [PistachioLan](https://pistachiolan.tumblr.com/) about these two and this sinister and seductive universe. They've done a [gorgeous art piece](https://pistachiolan.tumblr.com/post/184854875294/watch-me-another-piece-i-did-for-hannibal-au-with) to accompany it and I'm so grateful and in love with it. Thank you Lan! <3 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this more complex and menacing take on these two. <3

It was cold.

The persistent draft that stalked the holding cells of the hospital like remnants of its former occupants slipped through the evenly spaced bars to chill Chase from the outside-in. The rusty brick walls a stark contrast to the generic patterned, insulated walls of his former office at the FBI building.

Was his desk ransacked, Chase wondered; his things thrown into a cardboard box and left to be filed away as evidence, or had someone skipped the formality and gone straight to tossing it into the trash? If that was the case, the only thing he mourned the loss of was the popsicle stick picture frame tucked away in the bottom drawer.

Chase hated the psych hospital. He hated all of it.

Looking in at vicious psychopaths, gleeful killers, and other twisted souls making the tri-state area their playground. He, whose job it was to trudge through their minds without trying to get buried beneath the pain and perverted morality he found nestled there now had to count himself as a guest, a specimen to be poked and prodded at.

He rested his forehead between two bars, fists pathetically attempting to rattle and pry the bars apart. He leaned forward, feeling the scrape of iron pressing against the sides of his face, imagining for a moment that he could change his shape and squirm away. The futile effort was just for show. He was familiar with cages, knew better than most about foolishly trying to keep beasts at bay. He hoped someone was taking care of his dogs and letting them roam free on his property. Hoped they weren't also shackled up, left abandoned and awaiting mercy.

Apparently, the universe decided it hadn't fucked him enough; he heard the tell-tale signs of the guard opening the corridor gate. At last, the reason he was here, whose fault it was that his name and reputation were getting dragged through the mud: Dr. Henrik von Schneeplestein.

Even with his eyes closed, he knew it was him. It was the way the atmosphere changed; the cold from before now akin to summer humidity with the new feeling of dread. Oh, but when the doc had the grace to turn his attention to you, those ice-blue eyes made you feel like you were one word away from burning. It stalked down the hallway in perfectly measured steps, expensive Oxford shoes tapping a sure path towards him. Different scents permeated the air: a blend of coffee in the early morning, pages scribbled with ink, a fruit he couldn’t identify, and the stench of something dark and sinister he dared to name now when he hadn't before:

“Murderer.”

The doc had the audacity to smile at the accusation.

“Hello, Chase.”

_That smile._  If he was a religious man, Chase imagined that kind of smile was the one the angels fell for when Lucifer whispered temptations in their ears. The very smile that charmed him case after case, got him to accept private dinner invitations under the guise of camaraderie.

Oh gods, just the thought of having eaten those meals turned his stomach into acid. The bile was rising in his throat but he fought to swallow it down. Chase wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He had already taken so much from him.

“Have you come here to gloat, Dr. Schneep?”

“I told you,” the doc rebuked, stepping closer. “Call me Henrik.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, _Henrik,_ ” he sneered. “I forgot we were past first name basis and intimate enough to frame each other for murder. You’ll have to forgive me for not knowing we had that kind of relationship.”

If anything, that made Schneep smile wider. Chase bit back a growl. The doc could get under his skin far too easily for his liking. It used to be funny, they could rile each other up on tough days out in the field. Now it was just annoying.

They stared at each other through the iron bars between them. The doc’s face one of content, thinly veiled contempt in Chase’s.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten our last escapade in the forest,” Henrik alluded to with a click of his tongue. “Or do you elect to only remember coddling Sam?”

That gave Chase pause.

Sam. Sweet, trustful Sam, born to a father who loved her so much he spent years killing her doppelgangers. Scared, just trying to survive Sam, forced to act as his bait and accomplice. Dead and gone Sam, the latest of Schneep’s victims.

Was it really only a month since he had vomited up her ear? He gulped down a lungful of air when he felt a phantom tickle in his throat.

As Chase grew incensed, Schneep came closer, nose almost brushing iron to stare him down. His hand fell into a fist once more and he very nearly punched the bar splitting the doubled view of the doc’s face. He whirled around, dragging an angry hand over his mouth, pacing from one wall to the other in furious strides.

“That was different and you know it,” he contended, feeling a pang in his heart for not being able to keep Sam safe. He was useless.

“How?”

Chase froze, diverted momentarily from his self-loathing. “What do you mean ‘how’?”

“Now you’re being obtuse,” Schneep chided. “You cannot deny the night we spent in the forest burying bodies under the cover of moonlight. I would think that was rather indicative of the type of bond we share. How does anything change that?”

_Drama queen,_  Chase thought with a roll of his eyes. “Why do you have to make everything sound so salacious?” He instinctively turned and held his hand out to stop the doc from saying anything. “Rhetorical question, smart-ass.”

Schneep hummed but otherwise stayed blessedly quiet. In a sick way, he was grateful for the doc’s presence. It offered a sort of distraction. Drowned out the sounds of the other demons playing in his head. There was always so much noise. In the quiet dull cell, all he had to accompany him was the echoing screaming he heard constantly. The faces that flashed behind his eyelids more familiar than those of his adoptive parents.

“Leave Sam out of this, I think you’ve done enough there,” Chase finally warned. “Why are you here, Schneep? 

Disappointment flickered in the doc’s eyes. _Good._  Let the doc have a dose of his own medicine.

“I wanted to make sure you were comfortable,” Schneep said, resting a hand on a bar. “I’m your first visitor,” he added in a low voice.

Chase stepped back and crossed his arms, turning away from that bit of uncomfortable truth. No one from the bureau had come to see him. It had been two weeks since his imprisonment. Three days since he was cleared for visitors. Only radio silence from his colleagues.

“They’re busy working cases.”

“But not your case,” Henrik pointed out. “Where is Jackie to pound on official doors to get his prized profiler out and prove his innocence?”

The bastard actually sounded remorseful when he said it. He was a good actor; put award winners to shame.

“Careful doc, someone might think you’re capable of concerning yourself about someone else’s feelings.”

“Despite what you may think, Chase,” Schneep began, burying his hands in his pockets. “I care a great deal. That is the most significant thing to me as your psychiatrist, and as your friend.”

“Yeah well, you have a funny way of showing it,” Chase snapped back. “With friends like you, who needs enemies?”

“I’m not your enemy.”

“Then what the fuck is this,” he snarled, grabbing the bars nearest Schneep’s face. “Why am I here?”

It felt like the time between the question and Schneep’s answer was suspended between them. Chase was manic, could only stare at the doc with confusion and hate. It was easier to be angry then it was to let himself be sad. He could hate Schneep the monster, mourn Henrik-the one he thought was his friend.

Schneep on the other hand, Chase wasn’t sure what he could describe the look on his face as. There was something melancholic in the way his lips were quirked; like they hadn’t decided if he wanted to smile or frown and so, it was caught between trying to be both. It was his eyes that confused Chase most. While normally they’d be staring right back at him, now it seemed like it was taking a monumental effort to maintain eye contact for longer than a few seconds. Instead, they focused on Chase’s surroundings: the artificial light casting shadows on the walls, the numbers on his hospital jumper, the tousled sheets on the cot. For a moment, Chase wondered if this was another ploy at regret, or maybe it was resignation. Like Chase was something to be pitied at. Either way, he didn’t like it.

“I did it for your protection,” Schneep eventually replied.

The way he said it made it seem like he was buying into his own bullshit.

Chase’s nails bit painfully into the bars. “I don’t know who you’re trying to fool. You belong here, not me! You’re the most dangerous thing around.”

“I pose no threat to you.”

“Not anymore you mean. I’m already stuck in a cage.”

“Unfortunately, this is the safest place for you.”

“What does that even mean? You’re not making any fucking sense.”

A shadow passed over the doc’s face at that. The carefully composed mask that kept Schneep’s real motivations and persona at bay was starting to crack.

“All you need to understand,” he began, stepping close to the bars once more. “Is that for the time being, this is where I need you. _This_ is my design.”

Even though iron and rebar kept them apart, at that moment, all he felt was Schneep towering over him like the menacing force he really was. Chase backed down just the slightest bit, cheeks burning red for some absurd reason. He wasn’t afraid, he rationalized, never had been. He knew the kind of monster the doc was. Spent months studying his methods, his ideologies, his victims. Knew the kind of man he pretended to be. He wasn’t gonna let Schneep make a scapegoat out of him.

Without thinking, Chase reached through the bars and grabbed Schneep, yanking him hard enough that for a moment, he thought he could pull the doc inside the cell with him.

Schneep showed no sign of distress, just braced himself against the bars, waiting for Chase to make his next move. His face was close enough to kiss or strangle. For a split second, Chase wasn’t sure which route he’d pick.

It didn’t matter. The destination was the same: his hands were wrapped around the doc’s neck, clutching tight. Schneep didn’t even wince. The sharp, little intake of air he took drew Chase’s eyes to his mouth. He rationalized it was so he could be prepared to catch more of his lies. There were so many deceptions between them. The friendship he thought they shared-nothing more than a game on Schneep’s part. That made it hurt all the worse.

“You can't keep me here!”

Schneep took his hands away from his throat, gripping firmly. Before he released his hold, he felt the doc brush his thumbs against the inside of his wrists. Chase shivered at the pressure. Schneep lead his hands to grab onto a bar to steady himself. He made sure to catch his eye this time, his voice laced with a seductive promise.

“Watch me.”

Chase stood helplessly as Schneep started to walk away. Taking with him any hope Chase had that he could be reasoned with. The iron in his palms a reminder of how trapped he was.

Not for the first time, he felt like a songbird, locked away, only brought out when someone needed something from him: a profile, a tabloid, a dinner guest.

Was he to be the yellow canary; cursed to rot before he could expose Schneep as the very real monster he was? Is this what he wanted: to keep Chase as his trophy? Shackled and unable to do anything but bare witness as Schneep continued to ravage the state as his own personal hunting ground?

Chase slid to the ground, defeat creeping in. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Henrik,” he called softly. He had to take the risk. Maybe the man beneath the monster was still there. “Please.”

Schneep stopped before he reached the exit, still within earshot.

“Chase,” he said his name like a sigh.

“You said you were my friend, I thought that meant I was yours too?”

Silence. Chase’s heart thrashed against his ribcage. He wasn’t sure how much more anguish he could take.

“You are my friend,” came a soft reply. It echoed as he walked back to Chase.

And then Henrik was kneeling in front of him, grasping his elbows, helping him stand up.

Chase dared to look at him, searching for the eccentric man that would sit in the library beside him, beguile him with stories on sleepless nights, whispered bad jokes to try and lift his mood. Henrik stared back at him, almost begging with his eyes for Chase to listen.

“It means more than you could possibly know,” Henrik urged quietly.

“Then let me in,” Chase pleaded. It felt like he was holding his breath. “Help me understand.”

After some hesitation, Henrik touched his cheek, coaxing their foreheads together. It was easier than he thought to lean into the gentle touch.

He felt Henrik nod.

Chase let out a relieved sigh.

Despite still knowing him to be dangerous and a killer, Chase dared to believe him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! As for updates, I'm not sure yet how often I'll be posting other parts (or in what order) for this AU. I have other stories I'm working on at the same time, but this is definitely something I would like to continue. 
> 
> Find me lurking on [Tumblr](http://lace-maze.tumblr.com/) where I'll update how progress is going on various projects. <3


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